How feasible is a Cooper S as....

Vince

Vince

Vince

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The mrs will be doing her test over the next little while and I was thinking of surprising her with a present when she passes. Now she loves the minis in particular the Cooper S and is always banging on about them so I was thinking about selling my corsa and putting a few extra k towards buying her one. Now I don't know all that much about them but how feasible is this for a new driver?

She will be 23 when she passes. I will probably be the main driver and do the majority of the driving in it if that makes any difference. Are they crazy expensive to insure? Is this sensible or do I just let her keep the corsa for now and think about it when she has a year under her belt? It would probably be in around 8 months time that I would be buying after I know what is happening with a few other things in my life but if this is not a completely crazy idea then I could start putting some money away now.
 
I'm going to be really sexist here, but from my experience.

It will either
Be wasted on her.
OR
Be covered in dents in less than a month.
OR
Be backwards in a hedge after a week.

Wait..
 
alexisonfire said:
I'm going to be really sexist here, but from my experience.

It will either
Be wasted on her.
OR
Be covered in dents in less than a month.
OR
Be backwards in a hedge after a week.

Wait..
Click to expand...

You see I agree but she has almost brain washed me into wanting one even though I already have a car that I love :)
 
Just get a Cooper.

As a none driver it's not the Cooper S's performance she loves as she has not experienced it. It's the looks. Which are very similar to a Cooper.
 
I would go even lower. Get a nice looking mini one, has the same engine as the cooper (downtuned). Will be pretty much identical inside, and its still a shiney mini. After a year or so (or when bored) get it remapped to the same power as the cooper.

EDIT: Wait, is this car for you aswell? What corsa is it at the moment?
 
VinceB1 said:
The mrs will be doing her test over the next little while and I was thinking of surprising her with a present when she passes. Now she loves the minis in particular the Cooper S and is always banging on about them so I was thinking about selling my corsa and putting a few extra k towards buying her one. Now I don't know all that much about them but how feasible is this for a new driver?

She will be 23 when she passes. I will probably be the main driver and do the majority of the driving in it if that makes any difference. Are they crazy expensive to insure? Is this sensible or do I just let her keep the corsa for now and think about it when she has a year under her belt? It would probably be in around 8 months time that I would be buying after I know what is happening with a few other things in my life but if this is not a completely crazy idea then I could start putting some money away now.
Click to expand...

Umm, no.

Lets see how she treats driving first, if its just a case of she wants a Mini as a fashion item then you are wasting your money.
Secondly, young woman driver, quite expensive, quite quick car= expensive mistake.
If she wants a something like my advice would be she buys it and runs it herself.

Also, echoing above, its probably just the looks anyway, so anything small and covered in halfords crap will most likely float her boat.
 
[TW]Fox;20417902 said:
Just get a Cooper.

As a none driver it's not the Cooper S's performance she loves as she has not experienced it. It's the looks. Which are very similar to a Cooper.
Click to expand...

Your probably right... I guess the Cooper is a fair amount cheaper to run as well.

What are these like to drive anyway? any good?
 
alexisonfire said:
I would go even lower. Get a nice looking mini one, has the same engine as the cooper (downtuned). Will be pretty much identical inside, and its still a shiney mini. After a year or so (or when bored) get it remapped to the same power as the cooper.

EDIT: Wait, is this car for you aswell? What corsa is it at the moment?
Click to expand...

I drive a porsche boxster s and bought the corsa which is a 56 plate 1.4 sxi+ as a run about after writing off a car years ago, I just never got around to selling it and she sort of aquired it. I would be driving it as well when either the weather is shocking or its just a trip up to the shops etc.
 
Agree with Fox, Cooper will be much cheaper to run.

They're fast enough for most female drivers who more than likely won't appreciate just how good the handling and drive actually is, more so the cute looks. Ironically I hate the Mini image but from the drivers seat there's no denying they are cracking fun to drive. The Cooper is surprisingly warm if you rev the nuts off it, the S feels much quicker although I reckon this is down to the power delivery. I've only driven the R56 models though.

I'd highly advise against the R53 Cooper S, the running costs are high and the petrol consumption is horrific.

It amuses me how many women I've met who don't even realise they have a Cooper S, usually the husband had something to do with it and they just wanted a Mini :D So to be quite frank don't bother with an S unless you'll be driving it loads, chances are she won't notice the difference nor use the performance and just waste money on the lower petrol consumption.
 
Last edited:
scott212 said:
It amuses me how many women I've met who don't even realise they have a Cooper S, usually the husband had something to do with it and they just wanted a Mini :D
Click to expand...

To be fair I think a little bit of this might well have happened. Can you tell me a little bit about what year cars are best to look at for both the cooper and cooper s, what year does the engine change etc?
 
VinceB1 said:
To be fair I think a little bit of this might well have happened. Can you tell me a little bit about what year cars are best to look at for both the cooper and cooper s, what year does the engine change etc?
Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest there are other members of this board who are far more clued up about this than me. I regularly drive my parent's R56 Cooper but I wasn't involved in its purchase and thus I'm not really in a position to offer buying advice, more so offer opinions on the actual car and how it drives.

I would have a look at the following:
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/find-a-car/mini/hatchback/

The R56 began production in 2006 I believe. I'm not sure about the differences between the standard Cooper/One. With the S however the R53 uses a supercharger and the R56 a Turbo. The R56 is vastly superior in terms of fuel consumption and roughly the same performance wise. Many people claim the R56 lost the go-kart character, again I can't comment as I haven't driven an R53.
 
[TW]Fox;20417902 said:
Just get a Cooper.

As a none driver it's not the Cooper S's performance she loves as she has not experienced it. It's the looks. Which are very similar to a Cooper.
Click to expand...

this

80 % of the looks for much less cost

Heck if you really want, you can even get a JCW bodykit for the cooper to make it look more aggressive.
 
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